Also thanks for the zip but you didn't answer my question
What IS a sat?
Also thanks for the zip but you didn't answer my question
What IS a sat?
It’s a cryptographically provable and definite unit on a ledger that can be “owned” in the sense that it can be discretely reassigned only by knowledge of a specific private key (secret huge number) and it can be used to by space in an upcoming block of entries on said ledger to inscribe any information you choose, by rewarding the producers of that cryptographically valid block.
I agree it’s complex and intangible, but it’s still definite and unforgeable. And it is the only valid payment mechanism for the immutable record keeping provided by the blockchain.
You can say “what IS a sat” but that’s only a gotcha question in the same way that “what IS zero” is a gotcha question
You’re free to deny the existence of something intangible because it lacks physical instantiation but I’m also free to use it to solve problems
The point where the rubber meets the road, where the intangible meets the physical universe, by the way, is the physical energy cost required to guess large numbers (ie cryptography). For gold, it’s the physical energy cost to find/produce more physical atoms of the metal in the physical world. For bitcoin is the physical energy cost to find/produce new valid blocks on the ledger using machines operating in the physical world.
In other words I agree with your observation that limitation by the physical universe is a desirable aspect in money, but I think you fail to see the way that Bitcoin actually does meet this criteria
How much does zero cost?
The problem with Bitcoins is not the scarcity - I think they are even more scarce than you do :)
The problem is demand - why should anyone want these digital ledger units? Only because other people do... and why do those other people want them?
There are plenty of examples of pure information that has a value, otherwise no one would ever be paid to do research
Value is a subjective quality that something can have, whether it is tangible or not, but physicality is what enables the scarcity of a thing. The paradox of Bitcoin is that it is purely informational and yet scarce (such a thing has never existed before)
Owning a Bitcoin doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know